Clothes-pin.



H. G. HANSEN & O. H. FROGNER.

CLOTHES PIN.

APPLICATION I'ILED MR, 1, 1912.

1,057,238. I Pa n ed Mar.25, 1913.

ATTORNEYS on the line.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS ennnnams HANSEN'AND cHAnILEs HARRY rnoennn, or sEA TLE,WASHINGTON.-

CLOTHES-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 25, 1913.

vision of a pin of the character specified,

which may be cheaply manufactured, is easily placed in position orremoved from the line, without the necessity of using more than oneclothes either in placing or removing, which does not mar the garments,and which will hold them' firmly on the line-without any possibility ofaccidental displacement.

Inthe drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improvement inuse, Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, Fig. 3 is a side view, and Fig.4 is a front view with the arms separated. a

The present embodiment of the invention is shown applied to a line 1 forholding a garment 2 in place on the line, the edge 3 of the garmentbeing lapped over the line as clearly shown in Fig. 1. a

The improvement is bent from a strand of wire, and comprises a loop anda pair of arms connected by a resilient membenwhiclr while permittingthe loop and the arms to yield with respect to,each other, normallypresses them together to hold the garment The loop is approximatelyrectangular in shape and is formed by do-ubling the wire upon itself toform two side members 4 spaced apart .from each other and connected atone end by a cross bar 5. At'the other end the wires are broughttogether. as shown at 6, and twisted-upon themselves as shown at 7 twoor three times after whichthey are again separated but in the oppositedirection. The wires are then bent to form arches 8 spaced apart fromeach other, but with the planes of the arches parallel, as clearly shownin Fig. 2. At the opposite side of the arch the wires are broughttogether as shown at 9, and are again twisted as shown at 10, and arethen separated from each other at an angle to form two arms 11,diverging gradually toward the free ends of the arms. The free hand,which will not tear the end ofjeach arm is bent to form a ring 12',

and at the junction of each ring with the arm, the arm is bent laterallyoutward at an angle to the body 11 of the arm to cross the loo-pat theconnection of the side members "1 with: the cross bar 5.

The side members of the loop adjacent to'the cross bar 5 are bentoutwardly as clearly shown at 13 in Fig. 3, and each arm is also bentoutward away from the loop directly Opposite'the bend 13 as shown atlt,fthe bends 13 and 14 cooperating to form a'fecess for'receiving theline and the garment when the pin is in place on the line.

When the pin is not in use, the arms bear against the loop atthej'unction of the side members with the cross bar 5, and the arms argsenarated from the loop 'by pressing the twisted portions 7-10 towardeach other as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The pin may beplaced-with one hand, engaging the fingers with one end of the arches'8,and

the'thumb with the other end of the arches,

and pressing them together, in the dotted.

onthe opposite side. The arms 11 tend to diverge from each other, whenthe ends of the arches are pressed together, and on acc-o'tlmtwof theoutward bend at the free ends of the arms a species of lock is formedbetween the arms and the loop. {The side members 4 of the loop press thearms together when the pressure on the ends of the arches is relaxed,and the said arm'simove away from each other laterally, when the ends ofthe arches are pressed together. As is known, clothes-pins especially inuse witlgstarched clothing, tend to adhere to t-he' elothing, so thatthere is some danger of tearing the garments when the pins are endsofthe arches are pressed together to I release the pins from the lines,the arms move away from'each other and are thus detached from thegarment by a lateral -movement so that there'is no danger of tearing thesame.

' The peculiar arrangement of the arms and loop also acts to some extentto prevent accidental detachment of the pin. The loop in fact locks thearm in closed position.

As is known clothes pins are especially liable to become frozen to thegarments. When removed hastily, there is great danger of tearing thegarment, because in the frozen state the fibers are more easily torn. Inthe improved pin, the arms 11 are so arranged, with respect to the loop,that whenever the arms and the 'loop are pressed together with respectto each other, the arms move away from each other, thus detachingthemselves from the garment, before the pin is removed. It is a fact,that the pin is more easily detached'from the garment by a com-'bination of lateral and direct movements than by direct movement alone.If for instance, the two rings 12 should become frozen to the garmentwhen the pin is in the position of Fig. 1-, when the loop and the armsare pressed together, as indicated in Fig. 3, the rings 12 not only movedirectly away from the garment, but also move laterally. -A pin that isquickly detachable "from the clothes, clothes to be taken from the linein much less time, than Where a combination of movements is necessary torelease the pin. In addition, should the garments stick to both sides ofthe loop and both arms, the pressing together of the arms and the loopcauses a species of shearing movement, .the. 'arms pushing the garmentsaway from the .side members'of the loop, while at the same time the sidemembers of the loop push the garment away from the arms. In addition,the peculiar arrangement of the'arms and the loop provides for a lockingmovement to assist in holding the pin in position.

We claim 1. A clothespin composed of a piece of wire, bent upon itselfto form a closed' loop and a pair of diverging arms connected by a pairof spaced-parallel arches, the wires being twisted together at the endsof the arches, between the arches and the loop and between the archesand the arms, the arms permits the passing. through the loop and bearingagainst the sides thereof, and being pressed together by theirengagement with the said loop,;each arm having a ring at its free end,

and the arms and the sides of the loop be ing bent away from each otherto form a recess between the arms and the loop for receiving the line.

2. A clothes pin, comprising a closed loop,

and a pair of arms-connected at one end anddiverging from each othertoward their free ends, a resilient arch connecting the loop and thearms, the free ends of the arms passing through the loop, the width ofthe loop being less than the space between the arms when the said armsare in their normal position, sothat the said arms will be pressedtogether bythe sides of the loop when in normal position, and will moveaway from each other when the arms are pressed through the loop, thearms and the loop having cooperating gripping surfaces for engaging theclothes on the line on the opposite side of the point where the armsengage the loop from the arch.

3. A clothes pin comprising arloop and a.

pair of arms, the arms being connected at one end and diverging towardthe other, a resilient connection between one end of the loop and theconnected ends of the arms, the

free ends of the arms passing through the loop, said arms being fartherapart at their free ends than the width of the loop so that when theloop and the arms are pressed toward each other or are-moved away fromeach other under the influence of the resilientv connection, the armswill be moved laterally with respect to each other, forthe purposespecified, said arms andloop-having cooperating gripping surfaces on theopposite side of the point where the arms pass through the loop from theresilient connection.

HANS GURNERIUS HANSEN.

CHARLES HARRY FROGNER.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS GREENE, JOHN O. VVAL'roN.

